| Show off when I go to the movies! Pm not always working We need some play too Q: Are you tired of defending yourself against skeptics? Einstein said something like “Great spiritual leaders That it’s turned will always be challenged by mediocre minds” It’s percent of the people who say very true Ninety-nin- e something against what I do have been talking from opinion not experience They haven’t had a reading with me If they were mediums I would accept the criticism But they’re just people who don’t believe in it Q: But isn't that a very convenient way to deflect criticism? Can you prove you're in contact with the dead? The proof comes from the thousands of people who’ve sat with me and had evidential details come through that have changed their Eves How can you say that’s not real? Q: What if someone were to say'l believe you've put thousands of people at peace and given them great joy but I don't believe you've done it by speaking to spirits'? Some people don’t have faith If they cannot rationalize something it can’t exist Their lives are very limited Q: Can you contact pets? Pets come through all the time They’ll do things like they used to do like jump up on a lap or sleep in the James Van Praaghwho has a new book out isn't afraid of ghosts it's the living who disturb him BY JENNIFER MENDELSOHN Pets too Medium-to-the-mass- es F YOU THOUGHT the stance went the way of the Victrola think again: Ghosts are back In the wake (no pun intended) of the hit creepfest The Sixth Sense a spate of new movies raise the n medium and dead And at the bookstore author James Van Praagh is out with the new Healing Grief: Reclaiming Life After Any Loss (Dutton $2395) in which he shows those who have lost a loved one “what the spirit world can teach us about the grieving process” Van Praagh 41 an unassuming New York City native whose past career aspirations included priest and television executive calls himself an “average normal everyday guy I’m not a strange ‘woo-woperson” Seer? Charlatan? You be the judge well-know- the movie or does it happen only when you try? It’s like a radio station: You tune into a frequency When you’re finished listening you turn off that frequency I’m not saying it can’t happen spontaneously once in a while because I can’t completely close myself down I was working out with a trainer once and had this vision of an old lady She said Tm from Atlanta” and she showed me a breakfast table with porridge I told my trainer and he said “That’s my grandmother She used to feed me porridge every morning” I said “Can you get rid of her? I’m paying you and this is my time” Q: Did you guess the surprise ending of The Sixth Sensei No Q: What does that say about your psychic ability? same place I remember one reading I said to this couple “There’s a dog here and it’s very upset with you because you went and bought a new puppy when it died” They said yes I said “The dog is saying you didn’t get a new bowl He’s upset you’re using his old bowl” It was very funny Q: Can anyone with proper training do what you do? Everyone is bom with a sense of intuition There are some that are bom with a higher degree of sensitivity But every single person if they choose to and discipline themselves can become aware of spirit Can they do what I do? Not necessarily But it isn’t just me Q: Are you preparing to come back in the next life? Oh honey I hope I don’t have to come back This is a hard world Q: Then are you preparing for life as a spirit like Houdini? Every single day —by the way I behave the way I treat people I have nothing to fear in death If we do the best we can do we have nothing to worry about o o’ Q: Why do you think ghosts and other spiritual phenomena have so touched a nerve with the public? There are things out there in this Earth that I can’t explain we call them coincidences But it’s more than a coincidence People are seeing more and more of this every day Now it’s OK to believe in these things Q: The slogan for The Sixth Sense was'Not every gift is a blessing' Is your gift as terrifying as it was in the movie? Personally I’m more scared of the living than the dead Q: Are you sometimes visited randomly like the boy in 16 USA WEEKEND May 7 2000 HOW "REAL ARE TODAY'S SPOOKY MOVIES? J For most people ghost movies like Frequency in which a man communicates with his dead father via ham radio and The Sixth Sense are a fanciful escape from reality Not for James Van Praagh “The Sixth Sense is almost an exact replica of what used to happen to me' as a boy he 5 explains 'Except used to see positive images didn't see necessarily negative ones' Van Praagh who gave Ghost a standing ovation says the boomlet in ghost movies shows that the paranormal is 'out of the closet' Hollywood he says has been doing its homework moving away from depicting mediums as "frauds and crooks'and accurately portraying psychic phenomena He predicts the trend will continue:People want to know about death and films are finally explaining that guarantee next year there'll be a lot more I really really see that' In a psychic way? 'In a psychic and a financial way' Van Praagh jokes'Hollywood knows ' what people want’ — jm I Elizabeth Mitchell and Dennis Quaid in Frequency VM iftv- 1 I 1 ’ ' I 1 ij |
